OS Not Found

You are going to need to open the case and have a look see at what has happened. Usually something like this indicates a Bad HDD but it's possible that if you have a HDD that hasn't been mounted correctly that it could have partially pulled one of the cables out. You'll need to push these in at both ends on the HDD both the power and Data leads though with the power lead you only have one end to worry about.

From your description it sounds as if the drive is getting power but isn't being recognised by BIOS. You can check this by entering BIOS and looking for available HDD/s and see if there are any present.

Before you reach into the case make sure that you ground yourself against a metal part of the chassis to prevent any static discharges and don't have the unit plugged into the mains.

Col

The clicking noise you hear does indicate that your hard drive is now defective. YOu will need to install a new hard drive. If you have data that you absolutely must have, you can try to install the drive in another computer as a slave. There is a slight possibility that it may produce your data. If that doesn't work (and it may not) you can place the hard drive in a static bag and place it in the freezer for a few hours so that the platter can realign. If this does work, make sure that you grab your data quick because once the platters heat up, your clicking will come back and you may not be able to access the data at that point.

OS not found and a clicking noise is usually a indicator that your HD is dying/dead.

As others have already stated, you should take a look inside the pc (make a physical inspection), to make sure all your wires and cables are connected properly. Once that is verified, get into the BIOS of your computer system and make sure the system BIOS "sees" the drive. If the BIOS can "see" (properly detect) the drive, you MAY be able to salvage data from it.

Since the system is 3-4 years old, we can safely assume that the warranty has expired. If you decide to replace the hard drive, don't buy your replacement parts from HP/Compaq as they charge far more than what most on-line e-tailers.
Good Luck

Thanks for the advice. The bios didn't recognize the hard drive and I am pretty sure I'm going to have to replace the hard drive. I didn't have anything of value on that computer, my 6 year old was using it to play games on it. Well, this would be a good excuse to just give him my computer and buy myself a brand new one, doesn't it? lol I've looked inside the tower of that Compaq and they didn't name it a "compaq" for no reason. Man, did they pack the innards in that tower rather tightly!
Anyway, thanks again for being so helpful.

Carolyn

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